We Adopt

Here's a tidbit about our family that I believe ties in with the thought process of standing against a society gone wrong: we adopt. On July 24th 2007 we brought a nine-month-old orphan boy home from Guatemala after having raised two daughters into their teenage years. My wife and I were in our 40s and "felt the call of God" to give a home to a little boy who did not have one. On one hand we have struggled to understand the complexities of emotion and circumstance that cause a mother to choose to relinquish custody of her flesh and blood, to cut off the possibility of ever having a relationship with her child. On the other hand, our son Eliot every day causes us to be grateful that his mother did so.

Adoption is an indicator of both brokenness and grace. The fact that there are circumstances in our world that necessitate adoptions portrays the tragic consequences of the failure of mankind to live under the authority of God, the Creator of all things. The fact that there are people ready and willing to welcome broken, bereft or unwanted children into their homes is a signal that God's grace is still at work. With all that is wrong in every society of humanity throughout the world, thank God this is still true!

We thought we were done. But we recently realized that adoption had become such a part of us that God was making room for more. We're going through the adventure of adoption again, this time a child with special needs from Hong Kong. Our reasons are different this time (more about that later), but God is writing the story of this adoption just as clearly as He wrote Eliot's story. We wouldn't have it any other way. We have said to God, as Moses did thousands of years ago, "If Your presence will not go with us, do not send us up from here," (Ex 33:15) and He has made us keenly aware of His presence as we have sought His direction through His word, books, and the counsel of others. We have never encountered a challenge in our lives that God has not ordained and used for our good and His glory. We are certain that will be true of this as well.

I don't know if anyone will ever read this blog. I hope someone does. I hope that my words will have an impact on someone's life. But, to the point of this post, I know that at the very least God is using adoption in the life of my family to make each of us, in our own way, more dependent on Him - like a little child. That can only be a good thing, for "Who is God but the Lord? And who is a rock except our God?" (Psalm 18:31)